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Democratic Governance

Women and Political Participation

One of the pillars of UNIFEM’s work is women’s political participation, a fundamental prerequisite for gender equality and genuine democracy. UNIFEM emphasizes four strategic entry points that can rapidly advance the status of women by catalysing wide-ranging, long-term impacts: using CEDAW to frame new laws, building partnerships to foster women’s participation, bringing equality into post-conflict reconstruction and pursuing gender justice.

Around the world, however, in times of peace and especially of war, women’s participation continues to be extremely limited. As a result, laws, policies and government institutions fall short, neither reflecting the needs of all citizens nor supporting progress on women’s rights.

Within our region we have the lowest female representation in the world, the Pacific only has 2 percent of women in political positions. It has been proven that women’s issues are strengthened with having women in parliament. There has been some progress across the globe with more women in political positions than ever before. The proportion of women parliamentarians at the national level has increased by 8 percent in the decade from 1998 to 2008, to the current global average of 18.4 percent, compared to an increase of just 1 percent in the two decades after 1975. Rwanda leads the way with 56 percent of seats in their parliament being held by women. However we have a long way to go to reach the targets set at the Beijing Conference in 1995 of a minimum of 30 percent.

UNIFEM responds with strategies that make a difference: UNIFEM works on four strategic entry points that can rapidly advance the status of women by catalyzing wide-ranging, long-term impacts.

  • Using CEDAW to frame new laws: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women offers comprehensive global standards on women’s rights. UNIFEM programmes equip women with the skills to translate the convention, now ratified by the majority of the world’s governments, into legal guarantees of gender equality.
  • Building partnerships for participation: UNIFEM draws together women’s organizations, governments, the United Nations and the private sector to foster women’s roles in governance. Programmes help bring more women into all levels of government, train women leaders, and equip women with the skills to actively participate in elections as candidates and voters.
  • Bringing equality into reconstruction: As conflicts draw to a close, the process of building a new government begins. UNIFEM works to advance gender equality by supporting new legislation, backing women’s leadership and equal representation, and widening the space for women’s participation at peace tables.
  • Pursuing gender justice: Gender justice requires every dimension of justice to incorporate gender perspectives. It rests upon the full participation of women in shaping legal institutions that promote their rights, equality and inclusion. UNIFEM supports women’s efforts to change discriminatory laws, address violations of human rights and war crimes, and eliminate the injustices stemming from political, economic and social inequalities.